This invention relates to sofa beds and, more particularly, to a folding fixture for a sofa bed.
The invention is especially concerned with a folding fixture for a sofa bed of the type referred to in the art as a four-section rise-over fixture, comprising a head section, a body section, an intermediate section and a foot section (the outer section) pivoted together end-to-end. When unfolded, the fixture extends horizontally forward from adjacent the back of the sofa over the front rail of the sofa, the foot, intermediate and body sections being supported on legs which unfold as the fixture is swung out of the sofa and unfolded. The fixture is adapted for folding over of the foot section on top of the body section and retraction of the entire fixture into the sofa with the head section extending upward within the back of the sofa, the body section extending generally horizontally forward from the lower end of the head section, the intermediate section extending upward from the forward end of the body section immediately behind the front rail of the base of the sofa, and the foot section extending horizontally rearward from the upper end of the intermediate section. The foot section then constitutes a support for the seat cushion (s) of the sofa. In extending the fixture for use as a bed, after removal of the seat cushion (s) of the sofa, the intermediate section is pulled up from behind the front rail and the fixture is raised up and out over the front rail (hence the description of the fixture as a "rise-over" fixture) to extend the head section, and body section, after which the foot section and intermediate section are unfolded. It will be understood that the fixture comprises two suitably cross-connected opposite side assemblies with a bedspring structure extending therebetween for supporting a mattress, and that, in folding up the fixture, the mattress is correspondingly folded, and is retracted, in its folded condition, into the sofa along with the fixture.
Fixtures of the type above-described are wellknown in the art and have now been on the market for a number of years but have oftentimes presented a problem in that the expansion tendencies of the mattress in its folded position within the sofa has tended to push the foot section of the folding fixture upwardly against the seat cushion or cushions on the sofa. In an attempt to solve this problem, mechanisms for locking the foot section in its generally horizontal retracted position have heretofore been suggested as exemplified by U.S. pat. Nos. 3,934,281, 3,525,106, 3,281,871, 3,281,870 and applicant's U.S. pat. No. 3,636,572.